Weekly Round Up

The World Bank released a report titled The Economic Impact of the 2014 Ebola Epidemic, estimating total economic loss associated with the outbreak could be as high as $32.6 billion by the end of 2015. The crisis has been escalating, and according to WHO officials is “much worse than it was 12 days ago.” Today, in a move to combat the outbreak, the U.S. Congress approved another $700 million in funding.

This week over 10,000 development stakeholders were in Washington D.C. for the 2014 Annual World Bank and IMF Meetings. There are over 70 different panels and conferences on the official schedule, not to mention hundreds of meetings with periphery organizations. This weekend’s major highlights will include high-level meetings on the State of the Africa Region, Development Committee Press Conference, and The Future of Finance.

The 2014 State of Food Insecurity in the World (SOFI), released by FAO, IFAD and WFP, estimates that globally 805 million people are undernourished in 2012-14, which is a decrease from 1.015 billion in 1990-92. China is responsible for much of this improvement, accounting for 138 million of the 210 million people who are no longer undernourished.

Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai and Indian children rights activist Kailash Satyarthi were jointly awarded the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize. The pair of activists were chosen over Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, the Pope and Vladimir Putin. Malala received the prize one day after the second anniversary of the brutal attack she suffered at the hands of the Taliban for her role in supporting female education.

Youth unemployment is particularly acute in Tunisia, where 58% of young men and 85% of young women are jobless outside urban centers. Fortunately, Tunisia’s new constitution has outlined a framework to improve education and youth opportunities. Read more in the recently released report, Tunisia: Breaking the Barriers to Youth Inclusion.

The Public Investment Corporation, part of the South African government, announced its plans to invest $230 million in Africa between 2014 and 2015. South Africa hopes the move will signal its commitment to economic integration in the region. PIC also pledged further development investment post-2015 in hopes of bringing Africa’s growth on pace with Asia.

Photo courtesy of Claude Truong-Ngoc under a creative commons license.